


Perchance to Dream

by Unforth



Series: Tumblr Ficlets: Supernatural [15]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Djinni & Genies, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-28 00:09:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10819632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforth/pseuds/Unforth
Summary: Tumblr ficlet written to the prompt: if Cas got caught in a djinn dream. Everything's perfect, his family are still alive and aren't fighting and he's in a relationship with Dean. He doesn't want to leave so somehow, Dean has to come and find him and help him break free of the djinn's spell.





	Perchance to Dream

**Author's Note:**

> The past couple weeks, I've taken prompts for short fics and written and posted them on Tumblr. I wanted to post them on AO3 as well but have been considering how best to do so. A quick survey of my subscribers and followers suggests that people would prefer if I post them all as individual stories and put them in a series together instead of as multiple chapters on the same file or any other of several options, so that's what I'm doing.
> 
> Please note that I generally do not take "out of nowhere" prompts, cause I don't have time, but I will sometimes ask people to send me ideas and I'll write them in the order I receive them. 
> 
> You can follow me on Tumblr at [unforth-ninawaters](unforth-ninawaters.tumblr.com).
> 
> Make sure you read the prompt! 
> 
> [~original post~](http://unforth-ninawaters.tumblr.com/post/160295860738/its-an-old-classic-but-i-always-like-thinking)
> 
> Prompt, from consultingcas: (it won't let me gift her this work and I'm not sure why not?)  
> It's an old classic, but I always like thinking about if Cas got caught in a djinn dream. Everything's perfect, his family are still alive and aren't fighting and he's in a relationship with Dean. He doesn't want to leave so somehow, Dean has to come and find him and help him break free of the djinn's spell.
> 
> Reminder: I've written a whole series that starts with Cas in a Djinn dream! :)   
> [I Dream of Deanie](http://archiveofourown.org/series/250840).

“Shit…shit…shit…” 

Cas looked _bad_. It was Dean’s fault. If it hadn’t taken Dean a fricken _week_  to track to the Djinn to her lair, if Dean hadn’t said, ‘ _don’t worry, Sam, I got this, you go visit Eileen_ ,’ if Dean hadn’t spent two damn days barking up the wrong tree thinking this was some weird angel thing and searching the whole damn town for angel binding sigils…but Dean had done fucked up in all those ways and more, and now Cas was almost gone. His face was ashen save where shrunken blue veins made a tracery over his cheeks, his neck, disappearing out of sight beneath his filthy white shirt. His suit and tie and trench coat were missing, and he looked as grimy as if he’d been missing months and had spent those months rolling in dirt. The cuffs of his shirt were bunched at his shoulders and the crook of each elbow was punctured by needles, areas around the tips crusted with dried blood. The flow through the tubes to the IV bags was anemic, blood over-dark and unhealthy.

_He doesn’t have long._

_He’s not an angel any more. He’s just a man - a human…person…_

_I could really lose him._

Dean’s chest spasmed agonizingly.

“Glad you’re here, Dean.” Castiel’s voice cracked, dry and hoarse from neglect.

“Yeah - yeah, Cas, I’m here, that’s good, you just focus on what’s real and–”

“Thank you, Gabriel,” breathed Cas. “Hannah…Alfie…Anna…the garrison…”

Dean froze.

_He…he thinks the angels are still alive._

_He thinks he’s still an angel._

_That’s his fantasy. That’s his dream world._

_He isn’t glad to see me, he’s glad to see whatever illusion of Dean exists in that dream. He could never use that hopeful tone for_ me _, not the real me, not after I’ve ruined his life time and time again. I was crazy to think…_

 _Maybe I should leave him there_.

Waking Cas would mean forcing him from a lovely fantasy of family and contentment, bringing him back to a world where Cas was miserable. Cas tried to hide how unhappy he was but it showed in so many little ways. If Cas died…sure, that’d be awful for Dean, but wouldn’t it be _better_  for Cas? A lifetime of happiness in the Djinn dream, an _eternity_  with his angelic brethren, rather than a rude awakening into a dull world where Cas was mortal, his family was dead, he’d never fly again, and all he had left in the world were Dean and Sam?

_But I don’t want to lose him._

_Sure, great, that’s not hugely fucking selfish or anything. What do I think_ Cas _would want?_

Cas said he was happy with how things had gone. Cas said he accepted his mortality. Cas said he didn’t miss the angels who had died. Cas said he wouldn’t trade his family for the world. Cas said it was enough that the world had been saved.

Cas _lied his ever-loving face off_.

The Djinn was dead, the hunt over. Cas was the only victim, lying sprawled limply on an old gurney in the abandoned clinic. 

Dean could turn and walk away.

Castiel would die.

_No…_

_…but maybe it’s best for_ him _._

With a sigh that felt like it expelled Dean’s very soul, he turned and walked toward the doorway, toward the hallway beyond, toward the rest of his life without–

“Love you too, Dean…”

Dean froze. Again.

_Love you…too?_

_Did…in the dream, did I tell Cas I loved him?_

_But I’ve never…how could he know…I could never…he deserves so much better than to be loved by my wreck of a sorry pathetic ass…_

_Love you too…_

_Dream Dean said he loved Cas._

_Dream Dean is Cas’ ideal._

_But…_

Nerves flaring, Dean hesitantly walked back to the gurney.

“Cas, buddy…I need you…” he murmured.

_If he doesn’t answer, I’ll go, I’ll–_

“Dean…” Cas whispered. One hand twitched; Cas tried to reach out but he was too weak. The needle shifted in Cas’ arm and he whimpered and his hand fell. Reaching out, Dean steeled himself, took Cas’ hand, threaded their fingers together. Cas’ skin was impossibly cold.

“Dean…” Cas sighed, lips twisting into a faint smile, fingers weakly grasping back at Dean’s hand.

“Need you, Cas,” said Dean. Desperation tightened like a fist closed round his heart. Admitting his desire made it so much more real. What if…

Cas’ eyes flickered open, pupils dilating and shrinking as he focused on nothing, and then his dull gaze fell on Dean and his smile widened.

“I knew you’d find me,” murmured Cas.

“Gonna…gonna get you out of here,” Dean managed, using his free hand to take the needles from Cas’ arms. Shame flogged him to haste.

_I was going to leave him here. God, I’m disgusting._

_But I thought it was what he’d want!_

“Shoulda…should have told you years ago…I’m sorry, Dean…”

_Dammit, I should have realized. He’s still in the dream. He’s still…_

Dean looked back to Cas and their eyes met. There wasn’t a trace of abstraction in Cas’ gaze, no hesitancy to his voice, and his smile went gentle and tender and hopeful. Blood seeped slow and thick from the torn-open needle wounds. 

“I was afraid…I was afraid I’d never wake up…never see you again.”

“But I was in the dream,” Dean said weakly, focusing on his rescue. Cas lay limp; Dean hefted him up and was shocked by how thin and light he’d grown in scant days.

“No you weren’t,” Cas breathed against his neck. “That wasn’t you. In a million worlds, an eternity of times, I’d know _you_  from every other soul in creation. That was a pale shadow; the person I met there… _that’s_  how I realized I was trapped in a dream.” A hand ghosted weak down Dean’s arm. “This is you. Thank God I’m home.”

“This… _this_  is home?” asked Dean incredulously, stumbling through the dark hallways of the derelict building. 

“No, Dean. _You’re_  home.”

Dean had no answer for that. Cas snuggled close to him, let Dean carry him to freedom in the fresh air outside, and Dean tried to process what Cas was saying. Finally, mercifully, Cas’ breathing evened out, his eyes closed, and Dean reached the Impala. Cas didn’t even stir when Dean draped him over the backseat.

“I love you, Cas,” confessed Dean, soft so as not to wake the angel.

Eyes yet closed, Cas smiled.

“I love you too, Dean.”

 _Maybe_ this _is the Djinn dream._

_Maybe I’ve been captured all along, Cas and Sam are looking for me._

_If so…_

_If this isn’t real…_

_…I hope I never wake up._


End file.
